General Dis)'(rack here, finally getting a login after lurking for a few years. I have been a member of this archaic society of desert dwellers for (10) years now. First year was '02 when some pervy weirdo from Texas I was working with said, "Hey, you ever heard of the Burning Man? It's in two weeks. We should go". I said, "Yeah, I've heard of it. My raver friends from UC Davis go and tell me how great it is. But, I'm not really down with raving that much". He said, "Oh man, I heard some crazy shiz goes down there". I said, "I'll pass".

Now you have to understand, this pervy Texan used to hang out at the Power Exchange on a regular basis, so now I'm thinking my raver friends go, and I got a Power Exchanger telling me about it. What the hell is this thing?

About that time I started to burn out on work. I needed a getaway. A vacation...yeah, that could do me some good. The idea of going started to rattle around in my head. I looked at some internet images of the event. I called my old college roomate in the City who hung around with the subject ravers too. He said, "yeah, I'm burned out on work too. I could go".

I'm not gonna lie...this one raver we knew that went was HOT! We heard she went topless....my gosh, could I actual go to this thing? Adolescent thoughts consumed me. "No, no, Eric. You don't even like raves or EDM. This isn't your scene".

Needless to say I took the plunge. The Texan eventually backed out, and two unpreprared burgins made it up and back in one piece (even though we read the guide, until that first storm hits, and that first piece of gear breaks, you have no idea what you really need). We did get some much needed help from our neighbors who hooked us up w/ some rebar and a lantern (ours broke) - big thanks Steve and Mitch.

Although I do not yet have a ticket, I am quite sure that I will be gracing you all with my presence as there are ways to get in...oh yes, there are ways... actually I really need to get lucky, but do have a few potential resources.

My parting thought is this. Burgins, you have a huge responsibility this year as there will be the largest percentage of burgins ever and the learning curve will be steep (besides maybe like the first one on the beach). Be estute and learn the culture quickly. I was a complete un-costumbed,darkwad, douchebag my first year. I still consider myself to be a recovering douchebag. Don't be me...don't be that guy/girl. Bring lights, bring costumes, bring the right attitude. Contribute. Don't be a tourist, be a citizen. Drink water, don't drink/drug yourself to stupidy (my camp mates are Emergency Services and really don't like this). LEAVE NO TRACE. Pick up after your fellow citizen. And playa ethics don't stop after Hwy 447. Don't dump your trash on the side of the road or the Del Taco parking lot. Pack it in, pack it out. Oh, and if somehow you make it pre-burn, go to Jub Jub and insult the largest DPW male you meet. You can thank me later. REMSA thanks you already.

I don't think it'll be the highest percentages ever (back in the early days the city would sometimes be at least twice the size as the year before, guaranteeing at least half the town was trekking out for the first time), but we'll certainly see a lot of fresh faces. On the plus side, a pretty good number of the people who were once first timers turn out alright

Good luck getting a ticket sorted. If you haven't got one lined up by the time ticket fulfillment happens, we'll also have the tickets offered/wanted boards available. Meanwhile, enjoy the boards and good conversations with veterans and newbies alike. Cheers!

Ugly Dougly wrote:How do you pronounce that?Are you like a towel rack?

Dish rack. Like the ones you dry your dishes off with.

I used to have a dish rack mounted on my bike instead of a bike basket because the slots worked really well for shoving cups, cans, bottles, etc... in and keeping them in place. Even when my bike would get knocked off the stand, my moop would stay put (actually it ceased to be moop because it was never out of place).

One day in 04 we were biking along with Feets and Christine from the Vancouver Creation Station and somebody got left behind. I was leading the pack and didn't notice that the rest of the group had stopped. The problem was, Feets and Christine didn't know my real name, so they started yelling, "Dish rack...hey, dish rack, hold up!!"

Needless to say, a few campmates got a kick out of it and hence the name Dis)'(rack.

The General comes from being the camp leader/recruiter in the early stages of my camp's playa career. We have since indoctrinated the philosophy of having "officers" that collectively plan the yearly pilgrimage.

I will digress, as that is what I do, but I am a firm believer that it is just not as organic to give yourself a playa name. To me it has to be earned through experience such as a humiliating moment, or drunken debauchery and verbal sparring, or a good fall off of something high, etc...